Embodiments of the invention described in this specification relate generally to preventing unauthorized mobile device operations, and more particularly, to methods for preventing unauthorized powering off of mobile devices.
Mobile devices typically are powered down by any of several manners, including a human user selecting a user interface (UI) option to shut down, by (the owner) configuring the mobile device to automatically power off after a certain amount of time of inactivity, or by holding a hardware button on the mobile device for a certain amount of time. When mobile devices are powered off, shut down, switched off, or turned off, the power is disabled for any internal geolocation positioning system (GPS) tracking electronics and/or wireless electronic circuitry. This includes the ability of the mobile device to send wireless signals. In other words, when the mobile device is shut down and the power is off, the ability to send any wireless signals is severed.
None of the existing mobile devices—including, without limitation, cellular phones, smartphones, tablet computing devices, etc.—prevent the mobile device from being powered off at any time by any person. However, powering off of a mobile device gives rise to a problem in locating the device in times of need, such as if the mobile device is stolen (or lost and powered down by an opportunistic finder of the mobile device) or if a location of a person using the mobile device needs to be known, etc. Adding to this problem is the fact that it is well known that a lost or stolen mobile device cannot be tracked or located when the mobile device is powered off by intentional shutdown or removal of the device battery.
Therefore, what is an additional systematic option to prevent unauthorized power-off or shutdown of mobile devices in order to prevent the intentional disabling of internal GPS tracking capabilities and/or wireless electronic circuitry.